Stuck on Shuffle
by ink and ashes
Summary: Challenge: Ten Songs on Shuffle. A series of drabbles surrounding the inhabitants of Underland and their wayward Champion.


**WARNING: **Due to the nature of this challenge (i.e. No writing after the song finishes, no preparation, etc.), the rating will range from T to M to worse.

**S T U C K . O N . S H U F F L E**

**SONG ONE:** _"Single Again," _(Remix) by Trina, Rick Ross, Lil' Wayne and Plies (Time 3:43)

She gazes at the window of the flat she knows so well.

The rain makes it hard to crane her neck so far. The water stings her eyes and gives them another reason to tear… but she stays there, watching the ghost of a memory. Laughing, dancing, singing… sweet kisses beneath the soft layer of a quilt… long nights of love and sweat, moaning and mewling with the hurricane of emotion he always managed to inspire within her.

She does not understand her sudden and fierce sadness; she had been the one to end it. The one to beg for _him_ to understand—her need for freedom, her need to explore and learn and _live_… without inhibitions. Without regret. And because he loved her—_loves_, she amends—he let her go. She remembers with vivid clarity his beautiful green eyes and the tears he had not shed on her behalf. If he had given into that weakness, she would have never left. How would she have been able to? How can one walk away from a part of themselves? The only person that would ever complete her?

But she will always love him. Even now, suitcase in her wrinkled fingers, she loves him with an ardor that still frightens her.

Alice only hopes that he will still wait for her when she returns.

**END**

**SONG TWO: **"_Demonoid Phenomenon," _by Rob Zombie (Time 4:12)

The Bandersnatch pranced and bounded about in wild abandon, rumbling the ground beneath his great, powerful legs. As he galumphed through the evergreen clearing, he spotted a critter fleeing from its waterhole—fairly small with green fur—and left in pursuit, spittle dripping down the coarse fur of his chin. A brief game of cat-and-mouse ensued, the Bandersnatch prowling about the frightened creature with sadistic pleasure, before he pounced, gripping the animal in his crushing jaws and biting down. He shook it, a growl garbling in his throat, the thrill of the hunt a giddy shuddering in his massive frame. Large, dark eyes closed in euphoria.

The blood gushed forth, a small, pitiful whimper erupting from the carcass. He threw the dead whatever-it-was into the air, catching it in his jowls and crunching down headily upon its spine; the kill sent him into a frenzy and he ripped and tore at the flesh, happily devouring the corpse with glee.

It was as he munched upon the last of the scattered limbs that he heard his mistress beckon.

She must have finally completed her mating ritual with that odd-smelling Outlander, he surmised. Quickly, he sipped some water from the nearby creek and shook out his fur languorously, sniffing the air and listening for the sound of her voice. When the tone he knew as only hers sailed through the breeze and into his ears, he made for her direction, his tongue flapping about in the aftermath of his haste.

"Did you miss me?" she asked, scratching behind his scruff just the way he likes. He purred in response.

When the odd-smelling Outlander finally fixed his trousers, the two humans climbed onto his back. She murmured a familiar word to him and he yipped in acknowledgement, racing off towards the large white building they called home.

**END**

**SONG THREE: **_"Bittersweet,"_ by Apocalyptica feat. Ville Valo (Time 3:23)

She was dancing around the ballroom floor, her lush mane of curls fanning about behind her.

In her arms was the White Knight, Captain of the Guard and a man rife with youth and strength… and incredibly close to her. Whispering in her ear. Her giggling blush and exuberant eyes. He did not understand why he had not seen it before; of _course_ the Champion of Underland would want to stay in the company of an equal. What could a hatter possibly offer her besides material things? Any security he could have offered had burned the day of his clan's demise; he had no official home, no title, nothing with which to persuade a woman of her considerable status to choose him above any other suitor. He was old, he was withered and disheveled, he was _nothing_.

Tarrant placed the little box back in his pocket, wondering what to do with the diamond ring he had hoped to present to the woman he wanted to spend eternity with.

As he turned to leave, he hardened himself against the onslaught of grief. Never again would he let a woman—_any_ woman—grip him so thoroughly. Never would he let another wound him so deeply; he had believed the Red Queen the only person to ever betray and destroy him… now he knew differently and had been foolish enough to watch it happen again.

He missed the glance of confusion Alice threw his way as she caught sight of him, having waited for him the majority of the eve.

**END**

**SONG FOUR: **_"I Got A Feeling," _by the Black-Eyed Peas (Time 4:54)

Mirana whooped right along with them, hiding her smile as she concentrated on the road.

Tonight was Alice's twenty-first birthday. As a majority vote, they—their motley crew dubbed _friends_—had decided they would kidnap the young woman and have a thorough and highly-intoxicated night on the town. After four bars, five clubs and a disoriented stop at a late-night beer distributor, they were _sloshed_ beyond belief, Mirana—the eldest and only one with a license—being the only one who did not slur enough to drive… heaven help them if they were stopped at a sobriety check point.

Of course, if any member of law enforcement caught sight of them now, they would be royally _screwed_; Tarrant had Alice hefted onto his shoulders through the sunroof—no one had any clue how this had been accomplished—and they were screaming and shouting in unison, unintelligible words gargling from their slurring and loose tongues. Mallymkun hung out of the passenger side window and swore for the simple pleasure of it… which would not have been entirely illegal, except that she sat upon Thackery's lap since there was no room in the back of Mirana's little white Monte Carlo. Those that occupied the seats there—aside from Tarrant and Alice, who were technically _standing_—were the twins, Theodore and Thaddeus—who were too busy chugging back bottles to contribute to the ruckus—and the caterwauling Chester, who kept messing up lines of the song they had blasted on the stereo.

The cool night breeze whipped through her hair, refreshing her beer-dampened senses, and Mirana secretly wished they could stay like this forever.

**END**

**SONG FIVE: **_"Nymphetamine," _(Overdose) by Cradle of Filth (Time 9:14)

He groaned quietly into her shoulder, unable to help himself.

He told himself he was angry. Told himself he hated her for leaving him. For _planning_ to leaving him. As he moved between her familiar thighs, he remembered why he loved her and damned her a thousand times over for it. Her muscles clenched and shivered around him, her breaths shallow and quick; she was close. He knew her every sigh, every sound, every tick. He knew if he kept this slow and languid tempo, she would soon shudder and writhe beneath him, hungry for more but utterly spent.

Pain and pleasure tore through him. He fiercely grabbed her hips, pulling her further down the bed. She squeaked and he knew she questioned him with her eyes… he was always gentle, always caring, always putting her before himself… sacrificing everything on the dim hope that she would _stay _here. Stay in Underland.

Stay with him.

But she planned on returning to the Aboveland—_her home_, he remembered her words with despair—on the morrow. In spite of everything, she was leaving anyway. Instead of giving into the grief, he grit his teeth and forced himself deeper, the headboard banging loudly into the wall behind it. "_Shh!_" she exclaimed, lifting a finger to her lips. He disregarded her warning and continued at _his_ pace, thrusting into her with a frenzy born of sorrow. Of longing and the fear of inevitably losing her forever. "_Tarrant!_" she cried, pushing against him one moment and trying to squeeze the breath from him the next. "Tarrant—_dear God…!_"

"He has nothing to do with this," he growled viciously, roaring as he shivered in the aftermath of his performance. He purposefully kept himself sheathed within her burning and flexing folds when he finished, knowing it was despicable. Knowing it was low and a horrible breach of trust.

But he would keep her. One way or another, he would keep her.

**END**

**SONG SIX: **_"Crazy,"_ by Gnarls Barkley (Time 3:01)

The White Queen overlooked her newly-regained kingdom with a sigh of regret.

In spite of the horrors Iracebeth had inflicted upon the colorful and jovial creatures of Underland, she could not hate her sister. She could hate her actions, hate the pain her people suffered—and would still suffer, for one battle would not wipe the blood from the canvas of their devastated lands—but she could not hate the redhead she had once called "Racey". Could not hate the woman that had once carefully taught her how to sneak out of the castle after curfew to play in the woods in their childlike glee. Could not hate the woman that had giddily taught her where babies _really_ came from.

Mayhap, one day, Iracebeth will change. One day, when she takes a look around at all of the lives she had destroyed, she will come to see the error in her ways. That it was better to be loved than feared. Mirana would celebrate that day with endless feasts and song and dance.

And a tear slipped past the Queen's defenses, for she knows that day will never come.

**END**

**SONG SEVEN: **_"Blame it on the Girls," _by Mika (Time 3:34)

The blood on his claymore flashed ominously in the dim moonlight.

Some Champion she turned out to be; to let a lanky, greasy man like that paw over her with no consideration to her protests or feeble blows. Tarrant had warned her before to keep her guard up, to never let herself alone with any of the courtiers that had integrated themselves into the White Court after the lickspittles—his term, which she fully agreed with—had been exposed as frauds in the Red. But after slaying the Jabberwocky, what—or who—could possibly try to harm her?

Former Lord Big Belly had seemed charming enough. Had claimed to want to show her something extraordinary. Had lured her, using her own curiosity against her.

The only thing extraordinary in this debacle had been the hatter's rage; where he had stilled his sword at Stayne's throat during the battle of Frabjous Day, he had no such qualms this time. When chance came, Alice had screamed for him with every fiber of her being. Like a bat out of hell, Tarrant had stormed through the White Castle in a fury, taking only a moment to take in her torn gown—the pale and filthy hand trying to free her breast, the other frantically reaching for her skirts in an attempt to start and finish the deed as quickly as possible—before his eyes had flashed dangerously. All Alice could remember was her earth-shattering relief upon seeing him, her heart fluttering with the knowledge that this cad would not violate her as he so eagerly wished.

How his carcass had gotten so bloody and mangled, she could not recall. Nor did she care. Sobbing and shaking with fear and regret, she clung to him, letting him pet her hair and coo sweet reassurances into her ears. He clung as desperately to her as she did to him, his grip tight. He promised her that no one would _ever_ touch or hurt her again. And she believed him.

Distantly, Alice wondered if it was possible for the Champion of Underland to officially have a Champion of her own.

**END**

**SONG EIGHT: **_"We Like To Party," _by the Vengaboys (Time 3:43)

Tarrant could not help the chuckles that bubbled from his chest.

He did not remember exactly why he had agreed to this, only that his annoyance had led to his eventual acquiescence; when Alice, Mallymkun, the Tweedles and, eventually, the White Queen herself had asked him to teach them his trademark dance-of-choice, he had firmly turned them away. He tried to explain that it was _felt_, not _learned_, and that no proper Futterwhacken could be taught. When they had all descended upon him in unison—even Nivens and a confused Thackery taking the rear—he had no escape.

So he had resigned himself to this fruitless campaign of dance lessons. _Futterwhacken_ lessons.

He had never, however, imagined just how _hilarious_ it would be.

They all had the aptitude for agility, for he had seen them in action—and the Queen, though not a fighter, was a wonderful partner in a waltz—but the concept of forgetting the boundaries of one's own body seemed beyond them. They wiggled and jiggled and fell over mid-step whilst his giggles turned to guffaws until his sides hurt and he feared he would get irreparable laugh lines from his face-splitting grin. They huffed and told him it was rude to laugh, but that just sent him overboard, his breath escaping in short wheezes of air.

Maybe _now_ they would stop hounding him for lessons and leave the Futterwhacken to the Master.

**END**

**SONG NINE: **_"Viva la Vida," _by Coldplay (Time 4:04)

The blue butterfly was her pillar of strength.

Five years in her native world was taking its toll on her. The restrictions were chafing, even with all of the progress she had made in Lord Ascot's—formerly her father's—trading company. The commerce had been a hard business to learn, but she had delighted in the challenge and had matured in a way she hoped would please her father once she saw him again in the afterlife. She hoped he would be proud. She hoped he watched her now, smiling at his wayward daughter and her wild imagination.

The pull of Underland was hard to ignore. Even as the salty sea breeze tousled her hair in its playfulness, she longed for ivory castles and grinning cats. She missed the rough-and-tumble Dormouse, the twitchy March Hare, the contradicting Tweedles. She missed the enigmatic hatter and his ephemeral eyes, the way he grinned at her, the way he tested her.

All she had now was Absolem and in this world, he could not speak.

But every day they neared England, the butterfly would flutter and hum about with more enthusiasm. How _did_ he manage to survive out at sea? Alice would watch him for hours and never once did he wilt or wither. She wished her spirit had such strength.

Though she could not return today, or tomorrow, or the day after that… she looked forward to the day when she _could_ return to her fairytale.

**END**

**SONG TEN: **_"Down With the Sickness," _by Disturbed (Time 4:39)

The shackles were still an indignation. She could not fathom how Stayne had gotten so accustomed to the damning manacles.

Sitting on a rock that overlooked a rather bleary creak, Iracebeth of Crims—the former Red Queen—plotted and schemed, much to the annoyance of her former Knave. He told her it was fruitless, pointing to the guards that watched them unwaveringly, reminding her sadistically of how her reign had been overthrown by a mere girl-child with tangled hair.

She ignored his stupidity. Once she figured out a way to free herself from these cold irons, she would _strangle_ him with the chains. She would disembowel him for his deception and betrayal—enjoy bleeding him like a stuck pig for attempting to kill her on that ill-fated Frabjous day. She would revel in the suffering of Underland, could barely contain her elation at the prospect of watching them beg and plead for mercy, only to have her dainty heel stomp on their outstretched hands. The former Red Queen would once again take the throne for her own, she swore. The kingdom would be painted with the blood of those that dared stood against her, her throne constructed from their still-drying bones.

She would have her revenge. She would _kill them all_.

**END**

**NOTE: **Written for the LiveJournal challenge, "Ten Songs on Shuffle". This is un-beta'd, undrafted, completely unscripted or planned. I apologize if it turned out horrendously… and since this is rather odd, the format will not be my norm. I have never typed so quickly in my life and I hope there are not _too_ many mistakes as a result. Hope you enjoy this regardless.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Alice in Wonderland, 2010. I do not own any of these songs, either.


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